BWI Group opens winter test facility in China to support active safety demand

Feb. 23, 2012 - PRLog -- Shanghai, China – Global braking and chassis systems specialist BWI Group has opened a new winter test facility in Daqing, north east China, to support growing demand from local automakers for advanced brake technologies. The world-class facility provides a range of test tracks for the development of systems, such as electronic stability control (ESC), anti-lock braking (ABS) and traction control systems (TCS).

“With China’s Ministry of Transport encouraging the adoption of ESC as part of its National Road Safety Action Plan, take-up of the technology is enjoying strong growth,” said Alan Lee, Global Sales & Engineering Director, Brake Systems, BWI Group. “This new test facility will support China’s emergence as a market for advanced safety systems and will complement BWI Group’s existing cold weather test centre in North America. With consistent sub-zero conditions for five months a year, our Daqing facility will provide the calibration and verification testing needed to support expansion of BWI Group’s controlled brake system programmes.”

The 100-hectare closed facility provides strict security, protecting the confidentiality of customers’ development vehicles. The comprehensive facilities at Daqing include various tracks, pads, fields and circles for the testing of ESC, ABS, and TCS functions under a wide range of conditions and manoeuvres. An engineering centre provides workshops, offices, catering, track maintenance, secure storage and indoor heated parking for up to 25 vehicles.

“The opening of this new facility reflects the importance of the Chinese market and BWI Group’s commitment to providing local engineering support to our customers,” said Lee. “More vehicle manufacturers are seeking custom solutions instead of standardized versions of existing systems. The Daqing facility further enhances the flexibility of BWI Group’s local development capability, allowing us to give customers the optimum brake solution for specific applications.”

A 50-hectare frozen lake provides a number of ice and snow tracks and fields at the facility. A dedicated ABS snow field provides 400m of packed snow, for TCS launches and ABS. ESC and other dynamic manoeuvres take place on a 1km-long ice/snow handling circuit, a 300m ice circle, a 75m x 300m polished ice pad surrounded by packed snow, and a snow field.  The ABS track is a 500m asphalt straight with a polished ice pad for transition and split coefficient manoeuvres. Traction control test roads include 10% and 15% gradients with ice/concrete combinations for split mu hill climbs.

BWI Group supplies complete brake systems and a full range of brake components to manufacturers in China. The company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation ABS system and is also preparing to launch a new generation of its ESC technology. These programmes are in addition to an existing business portfolio of brake systems, actuation, drum brakes, rotors, knuckles and fully assembled corners.


BWI Group
BWI Group is the strong and well-funded company that acquired the business of Delphi Chassis Systems on November 1st 2009. The product portfolio is split into two complementary groups: ride & handling technologies and braking technologies. In both areas, the offering ranges from high value items such as twin-tube dampers and brake system components, through to highly sophisticated active systems and the expertise required to integrate them with premium vehicle programmes.
BWI Group’s engineering philosophy can be summarised as ‘innovation with design simplicity’: a strategy that is clearly demonstrated in world-class technologies such as electronically controlled braking and stability systems, the MagneRide controlled damping system and the award-winning MR Powertrain Mount.

The substantial product portfolio is supported by technical centres in North America, China, Japan, France and Poland and by applications support centres in Australia, Germany, India, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. This is complemented by hot and cold weather test centres in North America, China, and Europe.

Images
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